Yukio Seki

Yukio Seki (29 August 1921-25 October 1944) was a Lieutenant of the Imperial Japanese Navy who carried out the first successful kamikaze attack of World War II.

Biography
Yukio Seki was born on 29 August 1921 in Iyo Saijo, Shikoku, Japan. In 1938, he joined the Imperial Japanese Navy as a naval aviator, and Admiral Takijiro Onishi gave him the chance to lead a unit of kamikaze pilots in 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. He led a special attack squadron to attack USS White Plains (CVE-66), USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68), USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71), and USS St. Lo (CVE-63), and he crashed his plane into the St. Lo, sinking her. St. Lo was the first US ship sunk by a kamikaze, and Seki was the first successful kamikaze.